Take this "slavery" nonsense for example. There is literally no difference between migration regime of a low-skilled worker and a highly-paid "expat". Rules are the same and they are way softer than, for example, H1B.
Millions used to be spent on smearing Dubai, so we will be hearing echoes of those "horror stories" for many years.
Other horror stories, which are not propaganda, are coming from cultural deafness. A Brit gets drunk, engages in sex on a public beach and then cries about "savage laws" when gets arrested. When in Rome, do like Romans, but some people think their view is better than anyone else's. I've seen Brits who think British laws should apply to them wherever they go.
You can’t be serious.
Nobody is withholding an expat’s passport while they live in boxes with 16 other people and working for months on end.
You’re making ridiculous comparisons and it makes me dubious of your intent here.
Putting 16 people in the same "box" is also illegal and, frankly, I've never seen laborers being treated like that. I think you are making this up or referring to an outlier case.
Laborers have two options: take care of their own housing or live in a employer-provided accommodation. Bankers, obviously, choose the former, taxi drivers choose the latter. There is no law that says taxi drivers should be treated differently than bankers.
It helps if one imagines Dubai as a cruise ship: expats are treated as a typical cruise ship crew. Some sleep in bunks next to the engines, some pay to live in better rooms on higher decks, but the approach in general is the same. Each member of the crew is there temporarily and they know it. They are expected to do their job and leave once its over.